Competitor-specific bid recommendations

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media that may be used to generate competitor-specific bidding recommendations are provided. One method includes identifying, at a computerized analysis system, at least one competitor of a content provider within a plurality of content auctions for displaying content items. The method further includes calculating, at the analysis system, at least one bidding action estimated to improve performance of the content provider in future content auctions with respect to the at least one competitor from a current level to a goal level of the performance metric. The method further includes providing a recommendation to the content provider to implement the at least one bidding action.

1 . A method comprising:
 identifying, at a computerized analysis system, at least one competitor of a content provider within a plurality of content auctions for displaying content items;   determining one or more current bid settings of the content provider;   determining a current level of a performance metric within the plurality of content auctions for the content provider with respect to a performance of the at least one competitor;   identifying a goal level of the performance metric for the content provider with respect to the performance of the at least one competitor;   retrieving, from an historical auction database, historical competitor bid data;   retrieving, from the historical auction database, historical content provider bid data comprising one or more content provider bid parameters, and adjusting at least one of the one or more content provider bid data parameters by a bid setting adjustment;   determining a revised outcome of the historical auction based on the historical competitor bid data and the adjusted content provider bid data;   calculating a revised performance metric for the content provider based on the revised outcome;   determining, based on a comparison of the revised performance metric for the content provider to the goal level of the performance metric for the content provider, that the revised performance metric meets or surpasses the goal level;   identifying the bid setting adjustment as a recommended bid setting adjustment responsive to the determination that the revised performance metric meets or surpasses the goal level;   providing a recommendation to the content provider to implement at least one bidding action corresponding to the recommended bid setting adjustment;   receiving approval input indicating that the content provider wishes to implement the at least one bidding action; and   adjusting at least one of the one or more current bid settings based on the at least one bidding action in response to receiving the approval input.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performance metric is based on an impression share, wherein the impression share comprises a number of impressions received by the content provider versus an estimated total number of impressions the content publisher was eligible to receive within the plurality of content auctions. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the performance metric is further based on a percentage of content auctions within the plurality of content auctions for which the content provider received impressions placed in one or more top positions within a content interface. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the performance metric is further based on a percentage of content auctions within the plurality of content auctions for which impressions received by the content provider appeared above impressions received by the at least one competitor. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the performance metric is further based on a percentage of content auctions within the plurality of content auctions in which the content provider outperformed the at least one competitor, wherein the analysis system determines the content provider to have outperformed the at least one competitor in a content auction of the plurality of content auctions when at least one of the following is true:
 the content provider received an impression in the content auction and the at least one competitor did not receive an impression; or   an impression received by the content provider within the content auction was placed at a higher position in a content interface than an impression received by the at least one competitor.   
     
     
         6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the at least one competitor of the content provider comprises at least one of:
 receiving user input from the content provider specifying a competitor, and identifying the specified competitor as the at least one competitor of the content provider; or   identifying the at least one competitor based on a relative performance of the at least one competitor with respect to the content provider under the performance metric within the plurality of content auctions.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying a ranking of the content provider and the at least one competitor based on a relative performance of the content provider and the at least one competitor under the performance metric within the plurality of content auctions;   wherein the goal level of the performance metric is a goal ranking.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 calculating an estimated cost for implementing the at least one bidding action; and   providing the estimated cost to the content provider along with the recommendation.   
     
     
         10 . A system comprising:
 at least one computing device operably coupled to at least one memory and configured to:
 identify at least one competitor of a content provider within a plurality of content auctions for displaying content items based on a competitor score for the competitor calculated by:
 setting a competitor-specific opportunity score to be equal to a combination of (i) a relevance score for one or more keywords based on overlapping impressions, and (ii) a cost per impression score based on a current cost of impressions for the one or more keywords; and 
 setting the competitor score to be equal to a value proportional to the competitor score, or to a value equal to a combination of a value proportional to the competitor score and at least one other value; 
 
 determine one or more current bid settings of the content provider; 
 determine a current level of a performance metric within the plurality of content auctions for the content provider with respect to a performance of the at least one competitor; 
 identify a goal level of the performance metric for the content provider with respect to the performance of the at least one competitor; 
 determine at least one bidding action estimated to improve performance of the content provider in future content auctions with respect to the at least one competitor from the current level to the goal level of the performance metric, wherein the at least one bidding action comprises an adjustment to at least one of the one or more current bid settings, and wherein the at least one bidding action is determined based on historical bidding data from the plurality of content auctions for both the content provider and the at least one competitor; 
 provide a recommendation to the content provider to implement the at least one bidding action; 
 receive approval input indicating that the content provider wishes to implement the at least one bidding action; and 
 adjust at least one of the one or more current bid settings based on the at least one bidding action in response to receiving the approval input. 
   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the performance metric is based on an impression share, wherein the impression share comprises a number of impressions received by the content provider versus an estimated total number of impressions the content publisher was eligible to receive within the plurality of content auctions. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the performance metric is further based on a percentage of content auctions within the plurality of content auctions for which the content provider received impressions placed in one or more top positions within a content interface. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the performance metric is further based on a percentage of content auctions within the plurality of content auctions for which impressions received by the content provider appeared above impressions received by the at least one competitor. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the performance metric is further based on a percentage of content auctions within the plurality of content auctions in which the content provider outperformed the at least one competitor, wherein the at least one computing device determines the content provider to have outperformed the at least one competitor in a content auction of the plurality of content auctions when at least one of the following is true:
 the content provider received an impression in the content auction and the at least one competitor did not receive an impression; or   an impression received by the content provider within the content auction was placed at a higher position in a content interface than an impression received by the at least one competitor.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one computing device is configured to:
 identify a ranking of the content provider based on a relative performance of the content provider and the at least one competitor under the performance metric within the plurality of content auctions; and   determine the at least one bidding action by determining one or more bid increases estimated to move the content provider to an identified higher position within the ranking in the future content auctions.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein setting the competitor score comprises setting the competitor score to be equal to a combination of (i) the opportunity score and (ii) a summary score that is based on a total spend on overlapping impressions. 
     
     
         17 . One or more computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
 identifying at least one competitor of a content provider within a plurality of content auctions for displaying content items;   determining one or more current bid settings of the content provider;   determining a current level of a performance metric within the plurality of content auctions for the content provider with respect to a performance of the at least one competitor;   identifying a goal level of the performance metric for the content provider with respect to the performance of the at least one competitor;   retrieving, from an historical auction database, historical competitor bid data;   retrieving, from the historical auction database, historical content provider bid data comprising one or more content provider bid parameters, and adjusting at least one of the one or more content provider bid data parameters by a bid setting adjustment;   determining a revised outcome of the historical auction based on the historical competitor bid data and the adjusted content provider bid data;   calculating a revised performance metric for the content provider based on the revised outcome;   determining, based on a comparison of the revised performance metric for the content provider to the goal level of the performance metric for the content provider, that the revised performance metric meets or surpasses the goal level;   identifying the bid setting adjustment as a recommended bid setting adjustment responsive to the determination that the revised performance metric meets or surpasses the goal level;   calculating an estimated cost for implementing the at least one bidding action;   providing a recommendation to the content provider to implement at least one bidding action corresponding to the recommended bid setting adjustment;   providing the estimated cost to the content provider;   determining, based on input from the content provider, whether the content provider has approved the recommendation; and   causing the one or more current bid settings to be modified based on the at least one bidding action in response to the input indicating that the content provider has approved the recommendation.   
     
     
         18 . The one or more computer-readable storage media of  claim 17 , wherein the performance metric is based on an impression share, wherein the impression share comprises a number of impressions received by the content provider versus an estimated total number of impressions the content publisher was eligible to receive within the plurality of content auctions. 
     
     
         19 . The one or more computer-readable storage media of  claim 18 , wherein the performance metric is further based on at least one of the following:
 a percentage of content auctions within the plurality of content auctions for which the content provider received impressions placed in one or more top positions within a content interface;   a percentage of content auctions within the plurality of content auctions for which impressions received by the content provider appeared above impressions received by the at least one competitor; or   a percentage of content auctions within the plurality of content auctions in which the content provider outperformed the at least one competitor, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to determine the content provider to have outperformed the at least one competitor in a content auction of the plurality of content auctions when at least one of the following is true:
 the content provider received an impression in the content auction and the at least one competitor did not receive an impression; or 
 an impression received by the content provider within the content auction was placed at a higher position in the content interface than an impression received by the at least one competitor. 
   
     
     
         20 . The one or more computer-readable storage media of  claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying a ranking of the content provider and the at least one competitor based on a relative performance of the content provider and the at least one competitor under the performance metric within the plurality of content auctions   wherein the goal level of the performance metric is a goal ranking.